


Closet Hideaways

by aPieceOfPi



Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: F/M, Hinted Valduggery, Post(ish)TDOTL, There's a Skeleton in the closet, spoilers for tdotl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-28
Updated: 2014-10-28
Packaged: 2018-02-22 23:52:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2526275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aPieceOfPi/pseuds/aPieceOfPi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Desmond finds Skulduggery in Valkyrie's closet. Set post TDOTL but before Valkyrie comes back from America - a bit of variation to end of TDOTL plot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Closet Hideaways

**Author's Note:**

> This strange idea popped into my head one night. It was supposed to be funny but then turned out a bit different. Hopefully not too OOC. I know Valkyrie doesn't like to show weakness but hey, they've been through a lot in the past 12 years. Let's give her a break.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. They all belong to Derek Landy

Desmond Edgley walked into his elder daughter’s room, looked around and sighed sadly. It had been almost five years since Stephanie – no _Valkyrie_ – had abruptly departed after the huge magical war. She had spent her whole life here, apparently living in this magical world but not missing a day with them somehow and then suddenly she was gone for _five years_! Desmond didn’t even know where she was.

The tall man – skeleton – Skulduggery had visited and assured him and Melissa that Stephanie was safe but wouldn’t tell them where she was. Apparently it was her wish that no one knew. Looking around her room Desmond realised not for the first that her departure truly was very abrupt. Scattered around her room were her various possessions. It appeared as if she had taken nothing with her.

Desmond had looked around her room enough in those past five years to know what the room looked like so he was surprised to find that a photo on her dresser had fallen over. He walked over to it and saw fingerprints in the layers of dust that lined the top of the dresser. Suspicious, Desmond peered around the room, to see if the person who had entered was still there. He didn’t find anyone. He walked over to her closet and realised that in the five years that she had gone he hadn’t opened it. Tentatively he put his hand on the knob and pulled it open.

He jumped back in shock.

Inside the closet was a very real looking skeleton.

  
Desmond’s mind instantly jumped back to Skulduggery, the man who was Gordon’s friend all those years ago and was now apparently his daughter’s partner. But it couldn’t be him. Stephanie was gone so there was no reason for him to be here. Besides, the skeleton wasn’t moving. Surely if it were Skulduggery then he would talk, explain himself, explain why he was lying suitless in his daughter’s cupboard.

While his family thought him to be absent minded (and they weren’t wrong) Desmond put the wellbeing of his family before everything else and so he hurriedly scooped up the skeleton – which felt so very real yet had not decomposed at all – and brought it downstairs. Luckily Alice was at school and so did not have to see it. Not that she would have been fazed. She was a tough child just like Stephanie before her.

“Melissa?” Desmond called out. “Can you come down here please?” This was followed by footsteps coming down the stairs and Melissa gasping when she got to the bottom.

“Goodness, where did you find _that_?” She asked.

“It was in Stephanie’s closet.” Desmond replied. Melissa frowned.

“What on earth could it have been doing there?” She asked. Desmond shrugged.

“At first I thought it was, you know, _him_ but it hasn’t talked or moved so I assume it isn’t. But it looks pretty real don’t you think?” Melissa nodded thoughtfully, a little disturbed that her daughter had been keeping something like that in her closet.

“Well how about you keep it with you in your office so that Alice doesn’t see it and then I’ll call an expert to see if it’s real or not.” Melissa suggested.

“Sure.” Desmond agreed and picked up the skeleton and took it into his office. He then sat down and began to work.

  
Skulduggery Pleasant looked over at Desmond Edgley from the floor where he had been placed.  
_Well Damn,_  he thought.

-

Valkyrie bid farewell to Danny and went to call Skulduggery. It was time for her to return home but she wanted him to come and collect her, give her the courage to return. Surprisingly the phone rang off onto voicemail and after leaving a short message that basically entailed “You had better call me back,” Valkyrie hung up.

The few times that she had called him in the past 5 years, Skulduggery had always instantly answered. This time he hadn’t. Valkyrie knew that Skulduggery, being Skulduggery, would have a perfectly good reason for not answering and call her back soon. She allowed herself a slight smile. That wouldn’t stop her grinding him for not answering though.

-

Melissa looked up from her book when she heard a phone ringing. It wasn’t her ringtone or Desmond’s either. Curious she located the sound and heard that it was coming from Stephanie’s room. She walked in and found a phone was lying on the floor of the wardrobe. It had stopped ringing.

Melissa picked it up and saw that a voice message had been left. She listened to it and gasped in shock. The voice coming from the phone was Stephanie’s, joking and cheerful as she remembered it had been before everything magic happened. Before she could stop herself Melissa pressed the call back button.

-

Valkyrie scrambled to find her phone that she had put down only moments ago. The caller ID was Skulduggery’s. She picked up the mobile and answered.

“Hi Skulduggery. What do you think about flying to America and bringing me back home?” She asked, a smile in her voice. Valkyrie frowned slightly at the short pause on the other end of the line.

“Stephanie?” Asked a tentative voice that was most certainly not Skulduggery’s. Valkyrie drew breath at hearing the voice that she hadn’t heard in five years.

“Mum?” She asked. “What are you doing with Skulduggery’s phone? Where is he? Why didn’t he pick up before?” She was suddenly angry. This wasn’t supposed to be how she talked to her mother for the first time in five years. And what on earth had happened to Skulduggery that meant her mum had her phone?

“Stephanie I don’t think you’re the one who should be asking the questions here. You tell us the world is full of magic, almost get us and yourself killed and then suddenly leave without any warning for _five whole years_! I think I deserve an explanation.” Valkyrie’s mind was working fast. She could hang up, leave the discussion to when she returned to Ireland. She was more than capable of getting back there herself. But obviously something had happened to Skulduggery. She took a deep breath.

“Mum, where’s Skulduggery?” She asked firmly.

“Stephanie I – AH!"

-

Melissa turned around and saw the skeleton from her daughter’s cupboard walking towards her, her husband right behind him.

“Ah!" She exclaimed. From the mobile in her hand she could hear Stephanie asking her what was wrong but she was at a loss for words.

“If you’ll excuse me Mrs Edgley I do believe that is my phone you are using.” The skeleton, who was now obviously Skulduggery, said. Melissa nodded silently and handed over the phone.

“Hello Valkyrie.” Skulduggery said.

“What. The. HELL. Was. That.” Valkyrie replied. “Why did my mum have your phone? Why are you at my house?” Skulduggery groaned.

“This is going to take some explaining. You’ll probably need to be here for it. I assume, since you called me on a non-important day, that you were wishing to return?”

“Well I was. But now…” She trailed off angrily.

“Look Valkyrie, I know this isn’t how you wanted your return to be. Believe me, I didn’t want it to be like this either but events have brought this upon us. Would you mind if I got Fletcher to teleport you over here?”

“He can’t do that. He’s never been here before.”

“Well………………..” Skulduggery started.

“You did NOT bring Fletcher up here just so he could teleport me out in an emergency.” Valkyrie was steaming. Skulduggery’s silence was the only answer she needed.

“Fine.” She said.

“Good.” Skulduggery replied. “See you soon. I’ll just call Fletcher and put my suit back on and it’ll all be fine.”

“Wait, what! You aren’t wearing your suit?” Valkyrie felt herself blushing even though she couldn’t see him.

“Yes, it’s hanging up in your wardrobe.”

“WHAT?”

“Talk to you in a moment Valkyrie, bye.” He said, and hung up. Skulduggery looked over at Melissa and Desmond.

“Well, that was intense wasn’t it?”

-

A minute later Fletcher and teleported away and Valkyrie was sitting at a table, Skulduggery at her side and facing her parents.

“Now would you please kindly tell me what has been going on?” She asked Skulduggery.

“Yes, we’d quite like to know that too.” Desmond said angrily. “Like perhaps, _why you were hiding naked in our daughter’s closet?”_ Valkyrie turned to glare at Skulduggery.

“You were hiding in my closet?” She asked incredulously. If Skulduggery had a face she knew he would be grinning sheepishly.

“Yes.”

“And why, pray tell, were you _HIDING IN MY DAMN CLOSET?”_   There was a pause before Skulduggery spoke.

“Well, you see I had a feeling that you would be coming back soon and so I thought I would come to your house to get some of your things before you arrived yourself. Then I heard your dad coming up and so I jumped into the closet and hung up my clothes to make him think that I was a fake skeleton. The last thing I wanted was for your parents to see me so soon before you returned. Although that didn’t quite work out.” He added sheepishly. Valkyrie looked at him sceptically but when he slightly tilted his head at her she nodded.

“Fair enough.” She said.

-

**_Later that day, after awkward conversations with parents..._**

  
Valkyrie walked into Skulduggery's house and sat down on a couch beside him.

“So.” She said. Skulduggery turned.

“What?” He asked. Valkyrie sighed.

“You know what. Are you going to tell me what you were really doing in my room today?” Skulduggery looked at her.

“If you insist.” He said, and paused. “I missed you.” He said simply. Valkyrie waited. “For the past six years of our lives we’ve worked together every day and then you left for five years. I understand why you left. I know it was necessary. But I wish it didn’t have to be so.”

“I’m sorry.” Valkyrie said quietly. Skulduggery nodded, the smallest movement of his skull.

“Occasionally when I was wondering if you would ever come back I’d climb through your window like I used to and just stand in your room and look around, wondering how long it would be until you returned. Being there would remind me of you, how strong you are and how you assured me you would return. Your bedroom smelt just like you and it reassured me.” Skulduggery stopped, realising what he had just said and looked at Valkyrie, who was staring right back at him.

“You really missed me that much?” She asked softly. Skulduggery nodded silently.

Valkyrie thought back, back to all those times in the past five years when she had longed to see Skulduggery, to talk to him, to insult him, to have him hold her in his arms and comfort her in a way that only he could because, truly, he was the only one who understood when the burdens she carried became too much to face alone.

She had imagined their meeting again after those five long years. It hadn’t turned out anything like the way she had imagined. But it wasn’t too late.

Slowly, Valkyrie leaned against Skulduggery and she felt his arms encircle her and soon her head was buried in his chest and she was sobbing quietly, mourning all the things she had missed out on in the past five years, all the time they could have spent together, and all the events that had happened before she left that she had to have come to terms with on her own.

“I’m so sorry Skulduggery.” She whispered. Skulduggery merely squeezed his arms tighter around her, reassuring her that he would always be there for her, as long as she wanted him to be.


End file.
